The war of words between UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and No. 1 contender Chad Mendes over performance-enhancing drugs continued Tuesday with the latter’s appearance on Sherdog Radio.

Asked whether or not he believed Aldo was a PED user, Mendes seemed sure of it.

I definitely do [think Aldo’s using PEDs], said Mendes. This is something that’s been ongoing, but for him to all of a sudden just drop out — I mean he drops out of a lot of fights — but I think it’s pretty coincidental.

Aldo handed Mendes the first and only loss of his career at UFC 142 in January 2012, starching the challenger with a standing knee KO in the first round. With Aldo not exactly known for bringing personal attacks into his pre-fight promotion, Mendes seems to have stuck a cord with the champ. Calling Mendes ‘a pu**y’ on Jul. 11, Aldo facetiously wondered if ‘Maybe I have so many injuries because I’m not taking the same ‘supplements’ you take.’

The first time I saw that, for me, this is huge in my mind, said Mendes of Aldo’s comments. He’s reaching big time. We have never seen Aldo lash out like this; we’ve never seen him lose his temper. I am in his head. I own him right now.

This is huge for me. This is huge for me getting in there and taking that belt from him. I’ve never seen him talk like this about anybody. He’s being very disrespectful, Mendes continued. I’ve never been caught red-handed or anything. It’s funny to me that as soon as the whole random drug testing started popping up, the next day he is injured and out of the fight. If anything, I could throw that in his face, but whatever.

Aldo has also criticized Mendes’ campaign to avoid a return trip to Brazil, the site of their first bout two years ago. Mendes has mentioned the difficulty in flying his family out to watch him challenge for the title in Brazil, but seems to have more practical concerns in regard to the local athletic commission’s ability to properly screen athletes for PEDs.

So this is the thing: We’ve got all this random drug testing, all this stuff that’s going on, testing for EPO, HGH, all this stuff now — they can get away with that stuff over in Brazil, said Mendes. This is why he wants me to be in Brazil and fighting in Brazil, [because] they can do all that kind of stuff there.

For me, I want this to be a fair fight. I went there first; I fought him in his backyard. I think it’s only fair he comes here and fights me in my backyard. Let’s make it one and one and see what happens. We are still working on it. I talked to [UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby] a little bit. It’s a 50/50 percent chance it could end up in Brazil. We are trying obviously to get it pushed here [in the United States, presumably California]. We don’t know for sure.

The pair’s rematch was originally slated for the main event at UFC 176 Aug. 2 in Los Angeles, California before Aldo was forced to withdraw due to a spine and neck injury. The event was subsequently cancelled or ‘postponed’ as UFC officials put it.

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